Machine for cleaning carpets, garments, and the like



y 2, 1 H. HAMMARLING 2,156,389

MACHINE FOR. CLEANING CARPETS, GARMENTS, AND THE LIKE Filed April 9. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 2, 1939. H. HAMMARLING MACHINE FOR CLEANING CARPETS, GARMENTS, AND THE LIKE Filed April 9, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet m\ s w :2 wl I 1 N n m n u n WY a g Z ,0. I mw '01. w

E ll Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,156,389 MACHINE re-R CLEANING charms; GAR MEN-TS,-AND THE H J'almar Hammarling, Stocksund, near Stockv holin, Sweden Application April 9, 1936; Serial No} 73529:

. In- Sweden April 17, 1935' 6 Claims;

This invention-relatesto that type of machines for cleaning carpets, garments and the like, in whichv the cleaning operation is effected by means of abeating element-or elements carried .by a swinging .lever or levers or formed by such a lever or levers, the working stroke of said element or) elements b'eing performed under the action of springsorby another power whereby sufiicient speed and' energy may be imparted to the beatingvelement orelements to allow it or them to exert an-eifective beating action; In machines of this character it-is practically impossiblecto avoidthe machine running light at times. As in such no-loadrunning the'be'ating element is not checked by any article to be cleaned, it will pursue its working stroke as far as the construction of the machine and thematerialvused permit. In order to prevent the beating element or the parts: carrying and driving same from being deformed-or destroyed when this occurs; means-must be provided to check the motionof' the beating element' as it reaches a predetermined position during its working stroke. This may be" obtained inthe' most simple way by the provision of an elastic stop in the path of the swinging-lever or levers at such a distance from'the' free" end of said lev'er or levers as not'to allow the portion "of the-beating element projecting beyond the stop to p'erform any additional vibrations that might be: detrimental to theirstrength. As the speed'of' the leveror levers in hitting the stop will, necessarily, be rather high and the beat,-'-moreover, will be concentrated to a single point of the lever, a loud cracking sound will result and, furthermore, the-lever or levers runs or run the-risk of being deformed at the point thereof engaging the stop. These" inconveniencesreduce to a great extent "the applicability of the machine.

The present'invention'h'as for-its purpose-to provide means whereby to check" the motionof the beating element when runninglightin such a way astogive riseitoino disturbingznoise at all oronlyto 'a very slight noise; at thel 'same time successively 1 absorbings lor oonsuming zthe kinetic energy otztheibeating velement/so as'ito v reduce the stress on the leverss.as':well= as on the other parts of the'machin'e to a negligibleramount. I In the :accompan'ying drawings one embodiment of 'a machine according to this: invention -is-.-illustrate'd. 1 Fig; iis a 'sc'hemati'c representation of :the- .zprinciple uponi which :the invention is -based'i 12 is a' cross sectidn of the machine, Fig+3 is:a :iongitudinah-section on' the line III-TII of Fig. -2,'- and .-4 -is: a-"perspectiye -.view ot a (Cl. IS -8'9) machine according totheinv'ention as hanging on a rail.

With referenceto-Fig. 1-, the reference character S indicates-alever 'orarm pivoted at a point a, said lever carrying a beating element p at its free end.- The small circles b, c, d; e'represent a number of I rigid stops situated at equal mutual distances, each r'e'pre'senting a -fifth of the length of the arm. The arm-should 'be made from" a material of great'elasticityas steel, and-should 1 be 'so dimensionedas'tob'ecapableof a considerable bending-movement under theinfluenceof the kinetic energy" that corresponds to the beatingfo'rce; The-operation is 'asfollows: The direction of-=movenien't of the beating'element dur- )5 ing the working stroke is indicated by the arrow and its normal finalposition in beating is in'dicatedby a pi.' Let it b'e a 'ssi'imedthat thebeating element does not meet with any-obstacle at m, as represented-- by' a carpet" or another article% to be cleaned, it"will-, of course,"continue its movement' in the direction --of' the arrow) and as" it reaches thepositiona;p2 i t' will come into engagement with the first step b.- Assuming the arm'were' stiff, which. maybe possible; theoreticallyat least, the swinging motion would cease in this position (b p'zlpand the total-kinetic energymftlIe beatin'g element and" arm would be transformed into work appearing as-a'pre'ssure upon th'e st'o'p'bi As-a matter of 'fact ''the' arm', however, isfiexible and, therefore, the resultwill be th'atonly the a portionof the arm is brought to a'- standstill,- whereas the portion b--p2 thereof together-with the beating element tends to 'swing further"while 'holdin'g its35 amount of energy practicallyundiminished; until thearm reaches the st'op c. During the said last mentioned swinging motion work' is "performed, as represented by 'the' 'bendingof the armL-Which results in a corresponding reduction of the kinetic I energy; By 'suitablyfplacingthe stops" it is possible to I determine beforehand, the part of the energy to -be-absorbed at eacl'i' 'poi'ntof thearn'i. Thus, forin's'tance; it may be predetermined-that the portions -bc, c-d',"d-'-e and the extreme free portion (e-p5) should each absorb a quarterof the kineticenergyby their bending work. It is thus evident that when-the armhas completed its bending stroke up to'- the "curved line, as represented by thepo'ints-a; b," c, d, e and ps, the total kinetic energy is absorbed and the arm willthen-tend toreturn' to its original state, provided its elastie-limit" has no t been exceeded, which" would T result in a permanent deformation.

Fo'rany given -predetenhined' final speed of 66 the beating element when hitting the article to be cleaned, it is thus possible to determine by calculation the kinetic energy at the hitting moment and thus also the power necessary for checking the beat at any distance from the center of oscillation, provided the mass of the beating element is known. Knowing the moment of inertia and the modulus of elasticity of the arm, it is easy to calculate the deflection .r at the various stops. By setting off this measure from the line a;o2 in the direction of movement of the arm, it is possible to determine the ideal curved line along which the tension of the arm can be released without producing any essential shock against the stops.

The bending work of the material takes place entirely soundless. To suppress the noise at the stops it is necessary to reduce the shocks, as above explained. At the first stop the shock may be reduced to a minimum by placing said stop in close proximity to the centre of oscillation where the speed ,of the arm is very low. Thisv procedure is repeated along the entire bending line by placing each individual stop as near to the preceding one as possible. Extracting the consequence of this method it is seen, that the ideal bending line will be a convex curve facing the arm which extends from the exact theoretical centre of oscillation. If that portion of the arm which is subjected to the bending stress presents the same cross section area and, consequently, the same moment of inertia at all points, then the bending line will be an arc, the smallest permissible radius of which may be calculated, provided the modulus of elasticity and the permissible stress on the material are known. Fig. 2 shows by dotted lines how the arm is allowed to swing out to its extreme bent position as determined by the stop.

Because difficulties may be experienced, if the point p5 is'allowed to swing out too far from the normal beating position a-p1, this swinging motion should be reduced as far as possible which may be realized by making only a very short portion of the arm flexible as reckoned from the centre of oscillation. This object may be obtained in the best way by forming the respective portion of the arm as a laminated spring, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the beating machine shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a single curve-shaped stop is provided for each oscillating arm. The beating element com prises a rod I which is mounted to oscillate parallel to itself through an aperture in the upper or front wall 2 of a casing 3 containing the beating machine. To this end said upper or front wall may wholly or partially comprise a latticework. The rod l is carried by a set of arms 4 mounted to swing on shafts 5 lying in alignment, the hub portions 6 of said arms being provided with rearwardly extending projections carrying journals 1 and rollers 8 mounted thereon. Engaging the exposed ends of the journals 1 are coiled spring 9 adapted to effect the working stroke of the arms. The other ends of said springs are attached to arms I carried by a shaft H which may be turned by means of a crank and handle 12 for adjusting the tension of the springs. The return stroke of the arms is effected by means of cams or eccentrics l3 carried by a driven shaft 14 which are engaged by the rollers 8. The driven shaft I4 is connected by a toothed transmission gear l to the shaft of a power motor Hi. The motor and the transmission gear are enclosed within an inner casing I! to prevent the dusty air contained in the outer casing 3 from entering the inner casing.

The portion of each arm 4 nearest to the respective oscillating shaft 5 comprises, as already stated, a laminated spring 40. In front of each such spring the-re is a stop l8, Fig. 2, secured to the wall 2 of the casing 3 which is rounded towards the spring by a convex surface I 9 extending from a point coinciding with or adjacent the axis of the shafts 5 to another point near the aperture of the wall 2. The surface I9 is formed in conformity with the principles above set forth.

The outer shape of the casing 3 conforms with the outline as determined by the machine elements contained within the box therein as well as by the path of the oscillating rod I. In order to avoid vibrations in placing the casing on a rigid support and in order to avoid the noise resulting, the casing may, preferably, be mounted to hang on a rail 20 by means of suitable bearings 2| attached to the uppermost corner of the box, as shown in Fig. 4. In this case the rails may also act as an additional support for those portions of a carpet or other article tobe cleaned which extend beyond the ends of. the casing. An adjustable and, preferably, resilient stay 22 may be provided between the casing and the floor in order to maintain the casing in desired position, that is to say, so that the side 2 thereof will obtain the most appropriate inclination for each individual part of article to be cleaned. This is due to the fact that the inclination is utilized for effecting an automatic feeding of the articles,

and in determining same care should be taken of the weight of the articles. Likewise, it is a well-known experience from manual beating that the beat should, preferably be more weak in respect of garments and lighter articles than it ought to be in respect of thick carpets 0r rugs, and it is for that reason that an adjustment of the tension of the springs should be made.

In operation, the article to be cleaned is placed on and fed over the support as represented by the inclined wall 2. The oscillating beating element will now be checked by the article, before it reaches the curved stop I 8 or, at any rate, while it is still in contact with the portion thereof nearest tothe shafts 5. At no load the arms, on the contrary, are allowed to continue their oscillation, until they reach the curved stop l8, as indicated by dotted lines inv Fig. 2. Due to the curvature of. the stop surface IS the motion of the arms will be checked practically soundless.

It is to be noted that the invention may also be applied to beating machines of a design or designs different from that shown in the ch'awings, as for instance, to a machine in which the beating element or elements is or are represented by one or more oscillating arms themselves.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for cleaning carpets and the like, a frame including a support for the article to be cleaned, beating elements including oscillatable arms mounted in the framework, each of said arms being flexible along a portion of its length, and. a rigid stop device secured to the frame, said stop device having a convex stop surface situated in the path of movement of said arms, said surface extending from the axis of oscillation of the arms and being arranged to be engaged by the flexible portions of the beating arms in the outswinging motion thereof, for the purpose of. checking the motion of said arms progressively from the axis of oscillation of the arms outwardly.

2. In a machine for cleaning carpets and thelike, a frame including a support for the article to be cleaned, beating elements comprising scillatable arms mounted in the frame, each of said arms being flexible along portions of its length, a rigid stop device secured to the frame, said stop device comprising a convex stop surface situated in the path of movement of the arms and extending in a direction from the axis of oscillation of the arms, said surface: being situated so as to be engaged by the flexible portions of the arms in the outswinging movements thereof, for the purpose of. checking said movements of said arms progressively, reckoned from the axis of oscillation of the arms outwardly, springs for swinging the beating elements towards the stop device, and cam discs for moving the beating elements backwardly from the stop device.

3. In a machine for cleaning carpets and the like, a frame including an apertured inclined wall for supporting articles to be cleaned, beating elements comprising oscillatable arms mounted in the frame, each of said arms being flexible along portions of its length, and a rigid stop device secured to the frame, said stop device comprising a convex stop surface situated in the path of movement of the arms and extending in a direction from the axis of oscillation of the arms to be engaged by the flexible portions of the arms in the outswinging movements of said arms, for the purpose of checking said movements progressively reckoned from the axis of oscillation of the arms outwardly.

4. In a machine for cleaning carpets and the like, a frame including an apertured inclined wall for supporting articles to be cleaned, beating elements comprising oscillatable arms mounted in the frame, each of said arms being flexible along portions of its length, a transversely extending rod carried by said arms, and a rigid stop device secured to the frame, said stop device comprising a convex stop surface situated in the path of movement of the arms and extending in a direction from the axis of oscillation of the arms to be engaged by the flexible portions of the arms in the outswinging movements thereof, for the purpose of checking said movements progressively reckoned from the axis of oscillation of the arms outwardly.

5. In a machine for cleaning carpets and the like, a frame including an apertured inclined wall for supporting articles to be cleaned, beating elements comprising oscillatable arms mounted in the frame, the portions of said elements adjacent to the axis of oscillation of the arms comprising laminated springs, and a rigid stop device secured to the frame, said stop device comprising a convex top surface situated in the path of movement of the arms and extending in a direction from the axis of oscillation of the arms and being situated in the paths of movement of said laminated springs in the outswinging movements of the arms, for the purpose of checking said outswinging movements progressively from the axis of oscillation of the arms outwardly.

6. In a machine for cleaning carpets and the like, a frame including an apertured inclined wall for supporting articles to be cleaned, beating elements comprising oscillatable arms mounted in the frame, the lowermost portions of each of said arms, next to the axis of oscillation of the arms, comprising a laminated spring, a transversely extending rod carried by said arms, a rigid stop member secured to the frame, said stop member having a convex stop surface situated in the path of movement of the arms and extending from the axis of oscillation of the arms and being situated in the paths of movement of the laminated springs in the outswinging movements of the arms, for the purpose of checking said movements progressively reckoned from the axis of oscillation of the arms, springs to swing the arms towards said stop surface, and cam discs to move the arms from said stop surface.

HJALMAR HAMMARLING. 

